Interpol recruits Russia’s Kaspersky Lab to thwart cybercrime

Kaspersky Lab, a global IT security
providers based in Russia with headquarters in the U.S., has announced an
agreement with the newly-established Interpol Global Complex for Innovation
(IGCI) to provide its expertise to combat international cybercrime and online
threats.

The announcement came after a meeting
between Eugene Kaspersky, Kaspersky Labs’ CEO and co-founder, Ronald Noble, the
Secretary General of Interpol, and Noboru Nakatani, Executive Director of the
IGCI at the Moscow headquarters of Kaspersky Labs.

The move amounts to the realization of a
dream of the company’s founder, Eugene Kaspersky, who commented, “I have been
pushing for the creation of what I used to call an ‘Internet-Interpol’ for over
a decade now, and at last it has finally come to pass. It should come as no
surprise that we wholeheartedly support this initiative, testified to by our
plans to second some of our top analysts over to the IGCI in Singapore.”

While details of the joint effort –
expected to begin once the IGCI is fully operational in 2014 – are still under
development, the project will focus on identifying cybercriminals as well as
providing operational support along with practical training for law enforcement
agencies around the world. According to IGCI’s Nakatani, Kaspersky Lab “will
provide law enforcement in [Interpol’s] 190 member countries with the expertise
to generate actionable intelligence to protect cyberspace and… bring
cybercriminals to justice.”

Interpol’s Secretary General summed up
the strategy behind choosing Kaspersky Labs. “Transnational crime cannot be
fought in isolation, and drawing on private sector expertise and support
against cybercrime is essential,” Noble said. This “requires that law
enforcement at both the national and international levels work with the private
sector, particularly its forward-thinking technological leaders such as
Kaspersky Lab.”

Eugene Kaspersky issued a warning to the
world’s malicious hackers. “Soon cybercriminals will have nowhere to hide – not
able to hole up in this or that country, as they have been able to up to now.
The net is closing in on cybercriminals – both the proverbial one and the
Internet,” Kaspersky concluded.

Last year Eugene Kaspersky was featured
in Foreign Policy’s “Top Global Thinkers.” In 2011, his company was included in
a list of the “Top 50 Most Innovative Companies” worldwide compiled by U.S.
business magazine Fast Company.

Since the end of last year, Kaspersky
Lab has been providing data to Facebook about the latest global Internet
threats, as well as tips for the Facebook Security page.